Behind the Scenes
Janette's personal blog that tackles updates and news insights.
Janette's personal blog that tackles updates and news insights.
With my work requiring me to move around, I get the chance to talk to cab drivers a lot. Like most of us, our cab drivers are working hard to survive on a daily basis. Taxi drivers these days earn around 100 to 300 pesos a day. With the increasing fuel prices, a 24-hour cab driver spends like 1500 in fuel alone. Upon return of the taxi to its owner, he also has to pay a boundary of 1000 pesos. If you'll factor in his meal, that would be an additional 100 to 150 pesos a day.
In total, a cab driver should earn a minimum of 2600 to 2800 a day to cover his work expenses. With the traffic and low number of taxi passengers, as a result of higher taxi rates, the net income of a taxi driver if they are lucky will be from 100 to 300 pesos within a straight 24 hours time. Gone are the days when they could earn as much as 1000 a day.
Most taxi drivers in the country belong to the poverty segment of our society. They are the ones who also don't have social security and other traditional benefits that typical employees get. A lot got old with this as their main profession. One cab driver related that because of the low income in order to save on milk, he would grind rice and boil it to make an "am", mix it with milk. As a result, his one box of milk for his child would last up to two weeks.
So next time you have to take a cab and have a little spare, don't hesitate to tip higher than usual. You are helping your fellow Filipino who is working hard to live honestly and survive these hard times.
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The people’s current economic situation continues to be very serious, with hunger rising to 15.5%, and Self-Rated Poverty at 49%, according to the Social Weather Survey of August 26-September 5, 2005.
Hunger rises to 15.5%
Household heads reporting that their families experienced hunger, without having anything to eat, at least once in the past three months, rose to 15.5% in August 2005 or an estimated 2.6 million families from 12.0% in May 2005. This is the second highest national proportion since SWS began surveying it in 1998, after the record high 16.1% in March 2001.
Hunger as of August 2005 is at 18.0% in Balance Luzon, 16.7% in the National Capital Region, 13.3% in the Visayas, and 12.0% in Mindanao.
The hunger proportion has been at double-digits for six successive quarters, raising the 1998-2005 average hunger to 10.4%.
Severe Hunger, defined as families who went hungry Often or Always in the last three months, was at 2.6% in August 2005 over 400,000 families from 2.9% in May 2005.
Moderate Hunger, defined as those who experienced it Once or A Few Times in the last three months, went to 12.9% in August 2005 about 2.1 million families from 9.2% in May 2005.
Compared to May 2005, Severe Hunger rose in Metro Manila, while Moderate Hunger rose across location.
Self-Rated Poverty
The proportion of household heads reporting themselves as Mahirap went to 49% in August 2005, from 57% in May 2005.
The Self-Rated Poor is at 52% in the National Capital Region, 44% in the Balance of Luzon, and 55% in the Visayas, all of which are lower than last May.
Self-Rated Poverty stayed at 52% in Mindanao.
The median self-rated poverty threshold, or the median monthly budget in peso-terms that poor households say they need to escape poverty, went to P12,000 in Metro Manila in August 2005, from P10,000 in May.
Compared to May 2005, the median self-rated poverty threshold stayed at P7,000 in the Balance of Luzon, P6,000 in the Visayas, and P5,000 in Mindanao.
Such money-value thresholds were already reached as early as 5 years ago, even though the cost of living rose greatly every year. The failure of the thresholds to increase despite so much inflation is a sign that the poor are actually lowering their real living standards.
Survey Background
The Social Weather Survey of August 2005 used face-to-face interviews of a national sample of 1,200 statistically representative households divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages).
The SWS survey questions about household poverty and hunger are directed to the household head. They are standard non-commissioned items in the Social Weather Surveys. The quarterly Social Weather Surveys constitute the world’s most rapid statistical system for directly measuring poverty and hunger at the national level.
SWS confidentially provides its economic indicators on an advance basis to the proper government authorities, as a public service. SWS strongly recommends that analysts integrate these indicators with factors such as agricultural production, food distribution, social welfare operations, wages, cost of living, unemployment, etc. in order to learn how to prolong favorable trends, and how to prevent unfavorable spikes, in poverty and hunger.
The Garci factor
The key factor in the negative sentiment is the belief of most Filipinos that GMA's admitted phone calls to "a Comelec official" amounted to instructing him to cheat in the 2004 election, and were not merely meant to protect her votes as she claimed in her June 27 apology.
Among the majority 57% believing that GMA's phone calls gave instructions to cheat, 89% were pro-impeachment, 80% were pro-resignation, and 62% were pro-People-Power.
Among the minority 36% accepting that she called the Comelec official only to protect her votes, a large 68% were nevertheless pro-impeachment, but only 44% were pro-resignation, and only 35% were pro-People-Power.
Mixed opinions about the House and the Senate
The SWS survey found mixed opinions about whether the House of Representatives could decide fairly on the impeachment of President Arroyo and whether the Senate, in case GMA would be impeached, could decide fairly on whether or not to remove her from office.
Only 22% said they had much trust in the House, whereas 29% said they had little trust in it, and 48% felt unsure either way. Only 24% said they had much trust in the Senate, whereas 25% said they had little trust in it, and 50% felt unsure either way.
Similarity to the prelude to Erap's impeachment
These findings are reminiscent of public opinion in 2000, just before the impeachment of President Joseph 'Erap' Estrada. In October 2000, an SWS survey commissioned by the Manila Standard found public belief or disbelief in the charges of Gov. Luis 'Chavit' Singson against Erap as the key factor in framing opinions as to whether the latter should resign.
The said October 2000 SWS survey found 26% with much trust in the House, 19% with little trust in it, and 54% unsure of it, on the matter of making a fair decision on whether to impeach Erap; it found 26% with much trust in the Senate, 17% with little trust in it, and 57% unsure of it, on the matter of reaching a fair verdict in case Erap would be impeached.
Pro-Impeachment Dominant Everywhere
In the new Social Weather Survey, large majorities in all study areas called for GMA's impeachment: 90% in Metro Manila, 82% in Mindanao, 79% in the Balance of Luzon, and 69% in the Visayas.
The higher the socio-economic class, and the higher the schooling, the greater the support for either impeachment or resignation of President Arroyo.
Visayans Divided On Resignation
Pro-resignation sentiment had majorities in Mindanao (72%), Metro Manila (70%), and the Balance of Luzon (65%). Visayans, however, were split into 49% favoring and 50% opposing GMA's resignation.
People Power
The call for People Power to remove GMA in case of non-impeachment was a dominant 51% in favor, versus 26% against, and 23% undecided.
The percentage scores for and against such People Power were 62-25 in Metro Manila, 51-28 in the Balance of Luzon, 40-31 in the Visayas, and 53-21 in Mindanao, with the remainders from 100 percent being the undecided in each area.
The very poor E classes were highly in favor of People Power, by a score of 54-18, followed by the D class or masa, with a score of 51-26.
The middle-to-upper or ABC classes, on the other hand, were split 43-42 on the use of People Power.
Net Satisfaction of PGMA at -23
The August 2005 Social Weather Survey found 30% satisfied and 53% dissatisfied with the performance of GMA, giving her a very low Net Satisfaction Rating of -23.
This was not as bad, however, as in May 2005 when there were 26% satisfied and 59% dissatisfied or a Net Satisfaction Rating of -33, the record low for all Presidents beginning with Corazon Aquino.
The President's net satisfaction rating in the Visayas, where she customarily draws her strongest support, climbed back to merely zero, from -15 in May.
In other areas her net rating was negative, at -44 in NCR, -26 in Mindanao, and -25 in the Balance of Luzon.
GMA's rating rose by 3 points in NCR and by 22 points in the Balance of Luzon, but fell by 14 points in Mindanao.
According to socioeconomic class, her net satisfaction rating was -13 among the middle-to-upper ABCs, -23 among the masa or Ds, and -31 among the very poor Es.
Survey Background
The Social Weather Survey for the 3rd Quarter of 2005 and the Manila Standard-commissioned SWS survey of October 26-30, 2000 both used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages).
In the new Social Weather Survey, all interviews outside Metro Manila were completed during August 26-31. In Metro Manila, 259 interviews were done over August 26-31; the balance of 41 interviews were completed over September 1-5. Thus, although the inclusive field period for the national sample was August 26 to September 5, 97% of the interviews had been done by the evening of August 31 when the House Committee on Justice voted to reject all the impeachment complaints.
Analysis of the component of the Metro Manila sample consisting of interviews with individuals having landline telephones in their homes shows consistency with the findings of the three telephone surveys done by SWS in Metro Manila from late June to early August 2005.
The items described in this release were not commissioned, but were included on SWS's own initiative.
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I just realized that the Naga City government created a special website in memory of the Honorable Raul Roco. For those who would like to read more about what news media and bloggers said about him, do check out the site.
I haven't been doing hard core research work since I published the 10th DigitalFilipino StatsReport two years ago. However, I must admit that I'm beginning to get inspired once again with all the reports being published as to how the Blogosphere has changed recently. The ground research work DigitalFilipino.com's StatsReport - State of Filipino Internet User Report Part 3 will start soon. As soon as we finalize our supporters list, will start conducting our survey.
According to Technorati's State of Blogosphere Report Part 1 (August 2005), the size of blogs on the Internet is doubling every 5 months. In Technorati's experience, they were monitoring 7.8 million blogs last March. As of end July, this figure surged to 14.2 million blogs. Growth is is seen in Japan, Korea, China, France, and Brazil. At least 80,000 weblogs are created in a day.
The blogging activity is also impressive. At least 10 blog posts are being uploaded every second or 900,000 blog posts a day. (Part 2) Spikes in posting are partly attributed as well by major events. Of these posts, around 300,000 are tagged for proper keyword and categorization. (Part 3)
As there are numerous easy to use blog tools today, lots of stuff to talk about, the blogging community getting to know each other, advocates encouraging are others to blog, are all factors in its acceleration.
In the US for instance, according to comScore Media Metrix, 50 million Internet users are now reading blogs. The report also stated that traffic to blog hosting services has grown significantly. Blogspot.com has more visitors now that the New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post at more 19 million unique visitors. The top 10 are: Blogspot, Livejournal, Typepad, Xanga, AOL Journals, Blogs.com, MSN Spaces, Blogdrive, GreatestJournal, and Diaryland. The most popular blog drawn by search engine results, therefore having the highest unique hits, is FreeRepublic.com while the most visited blog is the DrudgeReport.com.
Last week, during the iblog Mini: Blogging Gloriagate forum, we partly asked ourselves what will happen next after the issue is settled. Will it lead to downward spiral of blog adoption? I guess in the Philippine context, we have yet to see this. (as if we will run out of political things to talk about)
However, politics and news are seemed to the primary blog driver according to comScore. Stand-alone blogs that focuses on political and news issues are the ones driving the blog traffic, at least 43% are drawn to the non-hosted audience. This is followed by hipster (like Fark), tech (like Slashdot), women (like Wonkette) and media (like MediaMatters), personal (like Kottke), and business (like MarketingVox). Although there's much talk about business blogging, it seems we still have to see how popular can this really get as it is now pegged getting visitor share of only 3%.
Another study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Buzz, Blogs, and Beyond: The Internet and National Discourse in the Fall 2004," cited that blogger audience commands respect as its stands 20% of the newspaper audience and 40% of the talk radio audience. The report also cited that 11 million US Internet users have created a blog.
Perhaps it is true that blogging is currently limited to the elite audience as pointed out by Atty. JJ Disini last week in iblog. The average US blog visitor is not your typical Internet user as they earn more, according to comScore, have more likely to have broadband Internet access, and whose household head is between 18 to 34 years old. This profiles makes them attractive to advertisers as bloggers are heavy Internet users spending an average of 23 hours a week online. 51% of bloggers are also found to be online shoppers.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project cited as well that blogs have buzz as some of the bloggers are now considered as a new force in national politics. It is now being studied as well whether blogs shall constitute the "fifth estate" (the first four are political nobility, knowledge clergy, popular citizenry, press) because of its capacity to generate buzz.
I like to believe that the studies quoted here provide great insights about the global blogging revolution. It's Globalization 3.0 fast-tracked. Are Filipinos ready?
This New York Times article reported that more than half of Texas (50.2%) and California's (55.5%) population is now composed of racial and ethnic minorities. The non-Hispanic whites making up two-thirds of the US population. The largest Asian population can be found in Los Angeles county. As to how this will affect the US we know now and in the future remains to be seen. However, it is definitely worth watching. For marketers, the need for products catering to the needs and taste of the minorities, such as Filipinos, is largely untapped. We hope to see more local companies taking advantage of these opportunities.
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